Contemporary documentary.

Forsyth, Scott

This issue was organized following the 22nd Visible Evidence international conference on documentary film and media held in Toronto in August 2015. This exciting gathering was hosted by Ryerson University, the University of Toronto and York University. Over three hundred scholars, curators, documentary practitioners and graduate students attended and participated in over seventy panels, workshops and keynote presentations. Well attended screenings were held in prominent downtown venues. This issue features papers and select panels presented at the conference. Scholars, subjects, films and perspectives from all over the world--Cambodia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Portugal and Guinea-Bissau, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States--create something of the international dialogue of the conference.

The conference opened with a showcase of films by Indigenous women filmmakers from Canada. This issue begins with an interview with the filmmakers that was part of the evening. The articles assembled range widely in subject, national context and theoretical perspective. Seth Feldman takes us back to a historical moment and event represented in "not yet documentary". Other writers explore the impact and aesthetics of the most recent immersive and interactive media technologies. Several writers and filmmakers confront the complexity of documentary representation faced with long social struggles--against colonialism, against dictatorships. Celebrated documentary artists--Werner Herzog, Rithy Panh--are illuminated. It is a rich and varied sampling of the highlights of the conference.

We received many more interesting submissions than we could finally select. Thank you to everyone who responded. I would like to thank all of the organizing committee, and in particular, my friend and colleague at York University, Brenda Longfellow, for her assistance in organizing this issue.